a: I'm Kate, a WOHM to 2 boys and a wonderful DH who is a SAHD. We are spenders, but trying to dig ourselves out of debt
b: We have 17k in CC debt and we are making progress in getting out of it. My goals for this month is to eat out 2x this month (lunch & dinner) and keep the unplanned spending to a minimum/none.
c: Work this thread, the DR thread and the home-cooked meals thread, and make the magic happen of actually not spending too much $$

b. We're looking to have our $14000 in cc debt paid off by the end of this year and then want to move onto our Suburban (still owe about $10000 on that). We've been debt free before, but 1.5yrs ago, DS2 was hospitalized for 2wks and we foolishly put the med bills on our cc We also bought our first home 2yrs ago, and the cc balance has just been creeping upward. DH and I sat down and outlined our financial goals and are now intent on meeting them. We also have a few home projects we want to tackle, and want to cash flow them instead of using that dreaded cc.

c. STAY OUT OF THE STORES!!! This is our big one. I've started meal planning again to combat our eating out habit, but we need to just stay out of the stores so we don't buy random cr@p. We use the cash envelope system, but have a tendency to just take out the cc if we go over budget. Not anymore. We HAVE to stick w/in our budget. I also would like to cut our utilities down so we have extra to throw at our debt/ savings.

Hey everybody! I haven't been here in a while, but I'm joining up this month & hopefully all the coming months.

I'm Lindsay from Louisiana. I'm a WAHM to three little ones, ages 8, 4, and 2. We're house/land hunting & need all the money we can possibly save.

My goals for this month are just not to go crazy with the money like I have in the past. I hesitate to set an actual spending limit, because in the past I've gone over the limit early on in the month, counted the month as a loss, and spent an insane amount after that. So I'm just going to do my best and see how it goes. Maybe next month I can set a realistic limit. The one goal I AM going to set is less than $250 on spring/summer clothes for the kids. (I'm starting their spring/summer wardrobes this month.)

b. Financial goals are to cut unnecessary spending to save for a house. We would like to purchase in Jan of 2011.

C.
- Budget, budget, budget and stick to it!
- Good-bye Starbucks. Good-bye Target. Good-bye Etsy. Good-bye DSW. I'll miss you all
- I plan on looking at frugality as a game - how can I get what I want and spend the least amount of and/or no money getting it?

Key:

No purchase:
Budgeted purchase:
Unbudgeted purchase:

My husband is sooooo excited I'm doing this!

3/1:
3/2: stuck to the Target list!
3/3: stuck to the grocery list!
3/4: D@mn Starbucks! I am so ashamed - I can't even make it a week!
3/5:

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
- We were debt free and had savings until several major setbacks in the last few months; for the first time EVER we are now in debt and that scares me! Trying to get rid of it before it gets out of control, and we'd like some savings as well (for a newer car than our 90's clunker)

c. How you plan to get there
- Fill our time with FREE activities, stay at home as much as possible to save on gas, and seriously moderate eating out / ordering in (though it is a great stress-reliever and keeps us sane, so we don't want to cut it out 100%) We also have THREE birthdays this month so we have to be careful about that.

Goals for the Month of March

1. No buying new
2. NO drive-through
3. Stay at home when possible

Key: - No Spend - Planned Spend - Unplanned Spend - Drivethrough - All Meals Made at Home - Decluttered stuff out of the house - No-drive day

a. I'm Jessica, WOHM to 2 kids (and TTC #3). DP & I both woth full-time, but we can't seem to save any money! DP is a spender and, while I'm not as much, I'm not very good at reigning him in. We've made the decision to buy an investment property and fix it up while his parents rent it from us. It's a mutually beneficial set-up (they have a solid place to live, we have free child-care), and the monthly money won't be coming out of our pockets, but we have some preliminary costs to pay.

b. We have a load of CC debt, and we need to eliminate it.

c. Simply, we need to stop spending on little things every day. No lunches out, coffee made at home, free entertainment. DP recently quit smoking, so that'll be a HUGE savings. Feb was an eventful month, and April will be packed with stuff. March should be pretty quiet, so hopefully we can stay low-key and get some stuff done around our house.

I've been here on and off. Hopefully I can really stick with it this month!!!

1. I am IO- a sahm to 3 youngsters. We are a farm family who are going through some changes. I have never had to really worry about this before- but now need to.

2. My goals are to rebuild our cash reserve- which is pretty well depleted right now.

3. No unnecessary spending for me- and limiting DH's spending(perhaps a weekly allowance?). I need a hair cut and some product, groceries (need to meal plan much, much more), and that is about it. No diapers (I cd- but buy pullups for night for DS1), no starbucks, no dangly earrings. Perhaps 2 meals out after church if I can scrounge together some coupons.

3/1- $0.
3/2-$0
3/3-$17 supper after church because we couldn't get going in the afternoon to eat at church... grrrrr. and $83 for groceries.
3/4-$0
3/5-$8 McDs

a. Who you are - single WOHM to 2 kids. I don't have childcare expenses, but a host of other ones, for sure. I am expecting a large tax refund this month and although I would like to pay off a couple of smaller credit cards completely, I think the better plan is to put that money in savings and continue with the payment plans I have already arranged. I like to think of the creative ways in which I can use the money I do have each month since too much denial makes me go into crazy, I have to stock up and buy everything I can in case we run out mode. So instead of listing the spending I'm NOT going to do, I am going to list the things that are allowed.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and - pay off cc debt and then work on savings (above the EF).

c. How you plan to get there -

1. Eat out lunch only 1x/week - 0/4
2. Weekly grocery budget of $100 (can include eating out in this on weekends I don't have kids)
3. Spending allowance of $50/week and that includes dry cleaning
4. $100 budget for party on Saturday, the 6th
5. ONE Amazon purchase of less than $50
6. Hutch for Kitchen is ok, do not spend more than $200 (ok - 169)
7. ONE trip to the thrift store, spend no more than $75
8. Coffee at McD's 1x/week: 0/4
9. Budget of $100 for party, on the 20th

We are painting our garage this month and I am keeping track of what I spend. Paint and supplies will run me about $500.

We are planting our garden and I need to place an order for more peas and potatoes. I am also checking out a load of compost to see what that would cost.

We need a few homeschooling supplies as well. Paper, printer ink, next set of math books...about $100.

Because of those big expenses (planned and budgeted), I need to tighten up the rest of our budget. So, my big goal this month is to reduce the frivolous spending. I spent nearly $200 last month on coffee for me and treats and toys for the kids.

I'm Aileen, wife, mother of one, stepmother to five (youngest two stay with us part time), grandmother to two precious babies and a soon-to-be third.

Continually building up savings. I was a single mother for many years without much help from the ex and had my own clueless issues regarding my finances so I don't have much to show financially right now. We are looking to trade in the car for a new one maybe this year. Hubby won't go for used anymore but we are saving for a large down payment. We have one cc, all others are paid for and closed.

Keep my spending under control. I've done pretty well the past several months except for an occasional lapse here and there. I review our budget from time to time to see where we can further cut expenses and/or throw more into savings.

a. Who you are
Amber, a thirty something, homeschooling SAHM with two little girls and a tag along dog called Limerick. We live in a small mountain town
b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
I want to pay off $1100 in credit card debt and a $20,000 car note. I also want to develop spending/lifesyle habits that allow us to stay out of debt in the future.
c. How you plan to get there
-stick to budgeted spending items
-eat at home or bring from home
-drive into the city only twice a month
-make due with or fix what we have and buy needed items second hand
-use the free bus service or walk during the day for trips in town so my husband can take our more fuel efficent car to work

We are painting our garage this month and I am keeping track of what I spend. Paint and supplies will run me about $500.

We are planting our garden and I need to place an order for more peas and potatoes. I am also checking out a load of compost to see what that would cost.

We need a few homeschooling supplies as well. Paper, printer ink, next set of math books...about $100.

Because of those big expenses (planned and budgeted), I need to tighten up the rest of our budget. So, my big goal this month is to reduce the frivolous spending. I spent nearly $200 last month on coffee for me and treats and toys for the kids.

Goals for the Month of March
1. No unplanned spending: 3/31
2. No eating out that isn't already planned for: 3/29
3. Bring in extra money from my business: 12%
4. 450 items decluttered: 1/450
5. 13 days with exercise in them: 0/13

Key: - No Spend or only planned spending - Unplanned Spend - All meals eaten at home or shared with friends/family but didn't cost us anything - Ate outside of the house (unplanned) - Decluttered stuff out of the house - Exercise

I'm redoing the way I'm breaking up my weeks - I need to have money to spend for the weekend. I'd also like to try to be ahead of the game each week, pay it forward, if you will, rather than borrow from the next week.

1. Eat out lunch only 1x/week - 0/4
2. Weekly grocery budget of $100 (can include eating out in this on weekends I don't have kids)
3. Spending allowance of $50/week and that includes dry cleaning
4. $100 budget for party on Saturday, the 6th
5. ONE Amazon purchase of less than $50
6. Hutch for Kitchen is ok, do not spend more than $200 (ok - 169)
7. ONE trip to the thrift store, spend no more than $75
8. Coffee at McD's 1x/week: 0/4
9. Budget of $100 for party, on the 20th

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and I am really just trying to get a grip on my spending and take a breather from all the spending around the holidays, despite many handmade gifts. My boys' birthdays are in Jan and Feb, so it just feels like the holidays are finally stopping.

c. How you plan to get there I have a few things that I plan to purchase (Sonicare, MI Paste Plus, 2 shirts for dyeing, and a sew n sew) beyond that we will be paying for an art class, nia classes, and waldorf classes. I'd like to minimize all spending this month (and next!) to account for all those classes! I'm an arts and crafts type person and a lot of my money goes to supplies. My plan is to use this month to finish up works in progress before bringing any new projects into my home. I have plenty of supplies!

I'm also going to use this space to put whatever project I worked on during the day. It will be fun to track my crafting as well. Part of my no-spend is to use up materials I have, so it seems appropriate.

a. Who you are - I am a WOHM with a hubby and a son. I am currently on maternity, but will be returning to work on March 29th. We adopted our son two months ago and accrued debt to do so, thus our reason for changing our lifestyle to pay off our debt as quickly as we can!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and - Our long term goals are to save money for a down payment on a new home, pay off all debt, and cut up credit cards

c. How you plan to get there - Dave Ramsey plan, along with no spending months, strict budgeting, and frugal living

One question - do you repost everything every day, or go back and edit your post. I have never done one of these before

Sorry I am starting a little late!

Goals for March:
1. Pay off at least $500 on our credit cards.
2. Have 15 no spend days
3. Use only cash for planned spending on groceries, gas, other necessities.
4. Use target gift card/babies r us gift card from shower for baby necessities.
5. Deposit $150 of budgeted cash at end of month into savings. In other words, live below our current budgeted cash amount.

Key: - no spend day - made a credit card payment - deposited money into savings - spent cash only - used a debit card to purchase an item - used a credit card to purchase an item

TOTALS
Credit card payoff: 60/500
No spend days: 1/15
Money deposited in bank: 0/150
Cash spent on necessities: 95.36/600 (budgeted amount we are trying to stay below - we will be taking this much cash out from our paychecks over the course of the month and hopefully, returning some of it to savings)